1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transfer device, transfer device assembly and accommodating device thereof suitable for use in transferring patients between beds and stretchers, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
For transferring patients who are in a condition in which they cannot walk or in a condition in which walking is difficult within a hospital, a transfer platform called a stretcher is employed. A stretcher is constituted by a loading platform having sufficient width and length required for carrying a patient, that is supported on the feet fitted with castors, at practically the same height as the surface of a bed. The stretcher is brought up next to the bed and the patient is transferred between the bed and the stretcher.
This transfer of a patient is usually performed by lifting the patient by a plurality of persons pulling up the edges of the sheet. However, this task is heavy work and requires considerable manpower. Furthermore, the task must be carried out very carefully when transferring a patient fitted up with medical equipment such as a drip device. For these reasons, the task of transferring a patient between bed and stretcher is very difficult.
Various transfer devices have been proposed utilizing mechanical or electric power to perform patient transfer in order to alleviate the above problems.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-104378, there is proposed a transfer device whereby the patient is raised by inserting a loading plate by means of a device having a mechanism similar to that of a forklift between the patient and the surface of the bed and the patient on the loading plate is transferred onto a stretcher by reversing direction.
Also, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-33593, there is proposed a transfer device of a construction in which a loading plate which allows selection of a condition extended on the bed and a condition extended on the stretcher by means of a rack and pinion mechanism or the like is provided on a support pillar that is positioned between the bed and the stretcher and in which a belt is wound around the loading plate. The loading plate can be inserted between the bed surface and the patient without relative movement between the belt surface and the patient, when the loading plate is moved in the direction such as to extend over the bed, by shifting the belt in the opposite direction thereto at twice the speed of this movement. A patient who is carried on the loading plate in this way is transferred onto the stretcher by the loading plate moving in the direction to extend over the stretcher. During this process, the belt is driven such that the relative movement between the belt and the moving loading plate is zero. Next, the loading plate is again moved in the direction extending over the bed surface and the belt is shifted in the opposite direction with twice the speed of movement of the loading plate. In this way, the loading plate can be removed from between the patient and the stretcher without relative movement between the belt and the patient, so that transfer of the patient from the bed to the stretcher is completed. Transfer of the patient from the stretcher to the bed can be performed by the opposite procedure to that described above.
However, with the transfer device similar to a forklift that is proposed in the above Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-104378, since large power is required in order to raise the patient's weight and relative movement is produced between the loading plate and the patient when the loading plate is inserted between the patient and the bed or when it is removed from between the patient and the stretcher, concern regarding safety is necessary to prevent inadvertent accidents such as dropping of the patient. Also, the direction must be changed with the patient lying on the loading plate and a wide space must be secured in order to ensure correct operation.
Also, it would appear that the transfer device proposed in the above Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-33593 is superior to the transfer device proposed in the above Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-104378 in that relative movement between the patient and the belt is eliminated when the loading belt is inserted between the patient and the bed or when the loading belt is removed from between the patient and the stretcher. However, the belt is slid around the periphery of the loading plate, and relative movement of twice the speed of insertion of the loading plate between the bed and the belt is generated when the loading plate is inserted between the patient and the bed. There is therefore the problem that a large power source is required because the loading plate and the belt must be driven against the resistance between the loading plate and the belt and against the resistance between the belt and the bed surface.